Saradomin/Third Age Tactics
Although Saradomin is from Teragard, he has little remaining tie to the culture or technology of that world. Saradominist culture is instead based largely on icyene culture, filtered through the interpretation of Saradomin himself and his many human followers. As more and more humans from the former Zarosian empire joined Saradomin, they brought with them Zarosian cultural mores, some of which were adopted into the culture as a whole. Saradomin's people and forces are nearly fanatically loyal to him, as he devotes a great deal of effort to making sure this is the case. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vYuVUeImZWEiutDRw4_loK7r9gpugoctbgJm65L0XoM/edit Theme & Terminology Saradomin's forces use a mixture of Ancient Greek/Successor (800-200BC) and Byzantine (600-1100AD) terms, especially the Eastern Orthodox church which combines Catholocism and Hellenism. Centaurs and icyene, both highly mobile on the battlefield, tend to use cavalry terminology. The official language of the Saradominists is Icyene (koine greek) but a huge proportion of the human population can only speak Infernal (latin). Military Organisation In the second age the forces of Saradomin were divided by race into tourmai. There were four tourmai, one each for icyene, centaurs, dwarves and humans. Each tourma is led by a tetrarch who represents that race to Saradomin. Historically the tourmai fought separately by forming complete armies of the separate races. Over the course of the god wars, Saradomin reorganised his forces into combined arms regiments called tagmata. Each tagma included complementary troops from each of the tourmai and were far more effective in combat. A tagma is commanded by an officer called a strategos. In principle a strategos could be of any race, but in practice almost all of them are icyene. Although they started out as mere organisational divisions, in imitation of the successful Zamorakian legions the tagmata have each formed more and more of a unique identity to foster morale and camaraderie. By the end of the third age Saradominist soldiers typically see themselves as members of their tagma first and their tourma a distant second. Together the tetrarchs and strategoi form the war council that advises Saradomin, although the influence of the tetrarchs has started to lessen in recent centuries as the tourmai have become less relevant. Saradomin's title as commander is polemarchos autokrator. Tactics Saradominist tactics changed dramatically during the conversion to the integrated tagmata, but haven't significantly changed since. The humans form a solid and near immobile defensive formation called a phalanx which is positioned in an attempt to control the battlefield. Imcando dwarves deploy behind the phalanx and direct devastating artillery fire. Skirmishing units of centaurs and icyene harass the enemy and try to force them to confront the phalanx. At this point heavy centaur shock cavalry attack the flanks and rear of the enemy once they are engaged and attempt to break the enemy formation. The centaurs and icyene then run down and slaughter the fleeing enemies. Tactically the Saradominist weakness is their overreliance on hierarchy and a strict chain of command. Saradominist leaders are expected to verify orders with their direct superior, who verifies with theirs (and so on) and given little independent tactical authority. Under optimal circumstances this can prove very efficient, but if anything disrupts communication or a leader is removed from the hierarchy, it can throw huge portions of the army into chaos. Races Icyene Stronger, faster and more intelligent than the other Saradominist races, the icyene fill the role of elite and mobile forces within the tagmata. Although not quite as comfortable on the wing as the airborne aviansie, they still take full advantage of their ability to fly to manoeuvre and outflank in combat. The icyene's abilities, especially compared with the comparatively limited humans, has given them a strong arrogance which Saradomin has done little to discourage. As all icyene are natural spellcasters, they default to providing devastating mobile ranged fire on the battlefield, often flying up and out of range of any retaliation. Dealing with this capability has become one of the key requirements for Saradomin's opponents, and the loss of the vampyres in Drakan's betrayal has left the Zamorakian legions extremely vulnerable. Centaurs Another alien race imported by Saradomin, centaurs are hybrids of human and unicorn famed for their powerful strength, tremendous speed and reputation for expert archery. In any other army, centaurs would serve proudly as elite ranged cavalry, but the flying icyene surpass them in this role. The centaurs thus embraced a role the lighter and more fragile icyene cannot, that of line breaking shock cavalry. This has lessened the battlefield use of centaur archers and subsequently lowered the value of archery within their culture. Dwarves Although most of the dwarves retreated underground at the start of the god wars, several clans renounced Guthix, swore loyalty to Saradomin and remained on the surface. Of these, only the Imcando clan survived to the end of the third age in sufficient numbers to remain relevant. The Imcando are very unusual dwarves, both for their fanatical faith in Saradomin and for their highly developed magical abilities. To the Imcando these are one and the same thing. Humans Weak, slow and ignorant in the judgement of Saradomin, humans nevertheless compose the vast majority of his forces. The teeming masses of the Zarosian empire which have since converted to Saradominism provide an endless source of troops for his armies as the number of icyene and centaurs falls, especially since the loss of Hallowvale. In battle humans are slow and immobile, and focused on defensive line holding and pinning enemy forces in place while the centaurs and icyene outflank. A large organisation and cultural division exists between those humans who hail from Saradominist lands and those who are converts, sometimes less than willingly, from the former Zarosian empire. Other The worship of Saradomin is open to any being provided they give themselves completely to his service. A relative handful of other creatures, native to Gielinor or from further abroad, serve him in this capacity, even a few demons and stranger things. They do not exist in large enough quantities to influence military organisation. References Main:Military Forces of the Late Third Age